Charlie’s Deli: A New Cult Classic

October 26, 2016 by Marketing

Club Sandwich Triple Decker

Charlie’s Deli opened in the early days of 2015 and has quickly become a big time contender in the Portland sandwich scene. Charlie’s serves up giant east coast style sandwiches, house smoked meats, and the best cannoli and cheesecakes around. This mom and pop shop is owned and operated by Charlie Mattouk and his wife Ali, and you’re likely to see either of them cheerfully wrapping up sammies or bacon caramels at the Old Town Location.

Charlie’s is one of our most ordered spots for sandwiches. On any given weekday Charlie’s prepares about 500 sandwiches for catering orders before they open, followed by another 200-300 sandwiches for lunch and dinner. Turkey on Ciabatta is the most popular catering sandwich order.

Charlie and Ali with the deli bike

The people have spoken online as well. Charlie’s has tons of 5 star reviews on Yelp, making them the #1 Highest Rated Restaurant in Portland that also offers delivery. Since we were voted Best Delivery, we think we are in good company with the awesome vendors we choose to work with.

They also cater to the regular assortment of dietary restrictions. Our CEO Jenn is celiac, and she said that the gluten-free turkey sandwich is the best sandwich she’s ever had, perfectly prepared and well-balanced with French Dijon and light Marsala vinaigrette.

Get some Charlie’s Deli for your next office lunch!

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Profiled in the Portland Business Journal

September 13, 2016 by Marketing

Read All About Us!

Our company was profiled recently by Pete Danko, contributing writer for the Portland Business Journal (PBJ). It is a great piece about our start-up roots and our continued growth. Read the full piece and check out the PBJ slideshow on us as well!

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Summer Grubbin’

July 12, 2016 by Marketing

Garden Bar salads are a summer fave #incarrotswetrust

Bowls of the Gods from Kure Juice Bar. Heavenly!

You’re craving summer eats and we’ve got ’em! We deliver and cater from the best local spots, here’s a quick run down of some of our faves:

For a healthy cool pickup, order the aptly named and absolutely craveable Bowl of the Gods from Kure Juice Bar, along with any of their fresh juices or smoothies. For snacky meetings and events, we’ll bring you and your crew lush crudité trays and lunch platters from World Foods, Zupans, or Green Zebra Grocery.

Choose from healthy fresh salads from Garden Bar or S ú pa Sustainable Urban Deli, or Mediterranean fare from Habibi, Aybla Mediterranean Grill, and Wolf & Bear’s. For savory and sweet pies and my favorite kale slaw around, check out the awesome menu at Pacific Pie Company.

Fresh crudité trays from Zupans

If you’re in the mood for heartier fare, big meaty sandwiches from Charlie’s Deli never fail to satisfy. In Hawaii it is always summer so order mouth watering Kalua Pig plates from Ate-oh-Ate.

Get on the bowl bandwagon and order bowls of fresh goodness from Whole Bowl, Café Yumm! or Cha! Cha! Cha! As far as fresh and addictive goes, we are always craving the perfectly cooked chicken and rice with that ginger sauce from Nong’s Khao Man Gai. You know THAT ginger sauce. Pretty sure I’d like to pour that over everything I eat, forever.

Of course, it wouldn’t be summer without homemade local ice cream! Grab some ice cream sammies or specialty flavor tubs from Ruby Jewel.

Seize the summer and get it delivered by bike!

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Welcome Sassy Stephen!

July 8, 2016 by Marketing

23172120953_6d9aa939e9_b Our Brand Ambassador Rider Stephen Sines has just stepped up in his new role as Catering Lead. So, for those of you who order large lunches and event catering from us frequently, you’ll be treated to the special catering stylings of “Sassy Stephen” (his nickname round the office).

Over the last seven years, Portland Pedal Power has evolved from simple bike delivery service to large office lunch and event caterers. Stephen will be helping to advance our level of service further, ensuring your team is satisfied, from breakfast to lunch to happy hour.

Stephen will work with new and existing customers and c orporate accounts to assess and meet standing order and catering needs. He says he is “looking forward to providing our customers with a variety of cuisine options they haven’t yet tried.”

About Stephen: he’s a Virgo that likes isolation tanks, trail running, kilts, gardening, frisbees, and generally hard-to-do things. With a background in physiology, holistic & sports nutrition, and biomechanics, he’s a Portland native who has never left and says he’ll be here for his last days too.

Welcome Stephen and drop him a line at [email protected].

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Vote PPP for Best of Portland!

May 12, 2016 by Marketing

Help us Win Best Delivery

Vote for the Best!

Portland Pedal Power is an owner-run company, committed to strengthening our community by supporting local businesses. Since 2009, our fleet has grown to 14 delivery bikes and we are catering bigger and better lunches, fueling local restaurant sales, and promoting likeminded sponsors with a unique active advertising platform.

PPP is the only homegrown on-demand delivery in Portland that is run entirely by bike. We ride the streets everyday delivering lunch for 3 to 300. We’ve worked hard to build strong relationships with the restaurants and markets we work with. We know what they can get you, how much time they’ll need, and how delicious it will be. We simplify lunch orders and special event ordering for over 100 corporate ordering accounts. This means our customers get the best possible service.

Delivering food by bike reduces congestion and C02 emissions on our busy downtown streets. Our commitment to sustainability has led us to further encourage our vendors to think differently about packaging, waste, and reuse. Our customers value our commitment to greener delivery, making us a valuable addition to their overall sustainability practices.

Please take a minute to vote for PPP for Best Delivery . We appreciate the love. Power to the Pedal!

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Partner Profile: Súpa, Sustainable Urban Deli

March 22, 2016 by Marketing

Chef Jae Larsen, LEED AP

We love partnering with Súpa to deliver addictive small batch soups, melties, sammiches, and salads. The food is absolutely delicious, with a focus on local, seasonal ingredients. The name ‘Súpa’ comes from the latin word suppa meaning “bread soaked in broth” thus the best way to enjoy the perfect Súpa lunch is to combine the perfect sandwich with the perfect soup.

Good food comes from good business practices; founding partner and chef Jae Larsen has worked hard to develop a sustainable business model. Larsen has a passion for making high quality food without all the waste, and has developed a “zero food waste” operational model, avoiding pre-consumer food waste in landfills. Larsen comes from a background of green building and is LEED AP certified, so she knows her stuff.

Mmmm small batch soups and melties…

Súpa also offers gluten free, dairy free, and vegetarian options. They also make it a priority to source at least 70% of all ingredients from within 400 miles of the shop. When you go into the shops (either location downtown or the Pearl) you can always get a sample of any of the mouth watering soups. Súpa is sending out sample soups all this month and next to some of our very best ordering accounts. So keep an eye out for special offers!

We work to encourage the companies we work with to make low impact food delivery a part of their internal sustainability practices, and ordering sustainably made food delivered by bike is a great way to do so. Combine zero food waste with zero emissions without sacrificing taste and order up!

Often, when people order food for their office lunches or events, they think they need to order from the same old places. Think outside big box delivery and get local Delicious food catered direct! We know what’s good in town and we’ve got you covered. Power to the Pedal!

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Pi Day Piestravaganza

March 3, 2016 by Marketing

pi-pie Calling all geeks and nerds, math enthusiasts, and lovers of fruit filled pastry — Pi Day is coming! Do you want to save exactly $3.14 on all your Pi Day delivery orders? Of course you do. Do you want to surprise your office with gorgeous locally made sweet pies or savory pizza pies? The answer is 3.141592653589793238462643… AKA: YES!

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159 (ect.). Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits. Or you can just eat some pie and think about how lovely it would be to have an infinite amount of pie. Pie infinity.

Every year we max out on pie deliveries on March 14th. So get your orders in soon!

We love Pacific Pie Company!

Delicious pie orders can be placed at Pacific Pie Company, Gluten Free Gem Bakery, Hotlips Pizza, or Rawdacious Desserts (they make amazing gluten free vegan pies that will melt your face off they’re so good).

Our special promos for Pi Day are below! Use code PIE314 at checkout to cash in your dollars and cents.

Every delivery order on Monday, March 14 will get a discount of $3.14!
Larger orders of $314 or more will recieve a discount of $14.15!
Order over $200 from Pacific Pie & get a dozen mini sweet pies FREE!
Rawdacious is offering 10% off whole cakes for Pi Day. Orders need to be placed by Friday the 11th by noon to be delivered on the 14th.

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Show Your Team Some Sweet Sweet Love

February 3, 2016 by Marketing

Order mini cheesecakes from Rawdacious for pure raw, vegan, gluten free delight.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching! Spread some serious love around this February 14th with the best local yummies delivered direct. We’ve made it a priority to partner with a variety of vendors, considering all dietary needs and restrictions. So, if you’re planning a sweets party, start here:

Desserts
Rawdacious makes premium “cheesecakes” that are naturally gluten-free, cane-sugar free, and vegan. For gluten free baked goods try Gluten Free Gem, New Cascadia Traditional, or the paleo-friendly Home Grown Bakery. Order French pastries from Pearl Bake ry, fresh baked pies from Pacific Pie, luxe handmade cookies from Sterling Catering, or old school pastries or cupcakes from Helen Bernhard Bakery.

Chocolate
Alma Chocolate handcrafts gorgeous boxes of chocolates and candies made from quality ingredients — an excellent gift. We can also bring you delicious fair trade chocolate bars from Equal Exchange or craft drinking chocolate from Treehouse Chocolate.

Alma Chocolate aims to delight. Order a gift box and we’ll deliver!

Donuts
Our favorite donut shop Delicious Donuts make classic donuts that won’t last long in any office. Donut Byte Labs makes cute lil’ gourmet mini donuts so you can pretend you didn’t just eat eight of them!

Flowers
For gorgeous locally sourced, eco-friendly bouquets, order flowers from Botanica Floral Design and we’ll deliver! Pre-order flowers before Feb 5th.

As always, if you need something picked up from one of your favorite spots not listed above, we can do that too.

Or you can simply give us your budget and headcount and we’ll do the rest. Make it easy and fill out our new and improved catering request.

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Our Catering Kitchen is Growing!

October 15, 2015 by Marketing

Boise Fry offers a variety of potatoes and cut fries, from shoestring to po’boys.

Part of being your favorite delivery concierge and catering option means providing customized breakfast, lunch, and dinner from the best restaurants in Portland. We’ve made all of Portland our catering kitchen, always adding new vendors, products, and restaurants to our online ordering options. Add some new flavors to your workday and try out these new options:

Tamale Boy: Tamales here are either Oaxacan or Norteño style, filled with chicken mole negro, chile verde pork, passilla pepper and queso fresco, or slow roasted pork. The menu at Tamale Boy also features burritos, enchiladas, and a number of creative seasonal options. There are quite a few vegan and gluten free options as well. Spice up your workday and order up!

Wolf and Bear’s: the cutest little food cart that ever was.

Boise Fry Company: The standout here is fresh cut local potatoes (pick a potato: Kennebec, gold, sweet potato, yam, purple, or Okinawa; pick a cut: shoestring, homestyle, curly, po’balls), fried to perfection with a long list of signature sauces and seasonings. Order a beef, bison, or vegan burger on the side. Boise Fry is committed to using organic, local, an enviro-friendly products wherever possible.

Sake Japanese and Thai: A fusion of flavors intersect at Sake, from fresh sushi to a variety of noodle dishes and soups: ramen, udon, pad thai. Offer your group a variety of flavors and options by ordering direct from Sake!

Wolf and Bear’s: Get fresh with Middle Eastern inspired vegetarian salads and pita made from fresh quality ingredients, as organic and local as possible. Pita wraps are packed with creative combinations and delicious fillings: grilled eggplant, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, hummus, homemade kalamata tapenade, creamy Mediterranean cheeses, and tahini.

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Equal Exchange = Small Farmers, Big Change

September 8, 2015 by Jenn

Guest post from Hope Williams at Equal Exchange

Producer trip India, 2012 (Scott Patterson)

Equal Exchange was founded over 30 years ago with the purpose of redefining the way we approach trade. Our goal was to use trade to support and empower small farmers and democratically run coops around the world. We envisioned long lasting and tangible social change through honest and truly fair partnerships.

Today we still fight everyday against the ever changing market, social and climatic events that put at risk our farmer’s livelihoods. We continue this fight by not only paying the best price for our products to our farmers but also providing on-the-ground support to ensure their crops quality, longevity, durability, and productivity. We work with our farmers to organize and claim more control over the volatile market and demand a fair price for their products. We do all of this in the name of authentic fair trade.

At Equal Exchange we roast our coffee fresh locally to the highest standards. Craft chocolate with pure

The Equal Exchange rainbow of staff members

simple ingredients: all fair trade and organic cocoa, sugar, and vanilla. We work on developing non-plantation models of fair trade tea using alternative trade models. To put it simply: we are proud of all of our products. By purchasing an EE product you are making a direct and noticeable impact globally. We can trace every purchase you make to the farmers who provided the product. Our supply chain is always transparent, always Fair Trade and always organic. We truly believe that small farmers create the biggest change.

Teaming up with Portland Pedal Power was an obvious choice. Jenn and her PPP team are a group of outstanding innovators, hard workers, and strict purveyor of the best local products you can find. PPP’s work strengthening local brands and transforming the Portland delivery system is necessary and exciting. PPP is a great resource to help Equal Exchange expand our work within the Portland market. With the help of PPP, Equal Exchange is eager to reach more local businesses and increase market impact for our farmers

Since Equal Exchange believes in holding ourselves to the same standards as our farmer partners, we organized ourselves into a worker-owned cooperative. Each worker-owner retains one share and one vote. We set very strict pay ratios for ourselves in order to maintain a fair and equal workplace. Additionally, Equal Exchange maintains a no-sell out clause in our bylaws that prevents the owners from ever making a profit by selling of the company. This is done to maintain accountability and responsibility for the company’s choices and actions. We work not for profit or personal gain but for the advancement of our farmers and social justice around the world.

For more information visit: equalexchange.coop or our blog: smallfarmersbigchange.coop

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